Thursday, December 6, 2007

When the four enemas including the vet's special cocktail didn't break the foal's constipation loose, the only thing left to do was to tube and oil the foal. It wasn't safe to administer suppositories or anymore enemas. A foal's intestinal tract is so susceptible to being thrown dangerously off balance and into the other extreme of deadly diarrhea. All we could do at this point was to watch and wait.

Through all of this the colt still acted as if he was the king of the world. This tiny Arabian horse had no idea that his life was in any jeopardy. He owned his section of the world and had us all captivated.

As the vet sat over the top of the colt placing yet another tube into his stomach, he joked about how broke this little fellow was going to be. He wasn't even 2 days old and he'd already been "ridden" four times.

There's something about those foals that go through that procedure. They form a connection, an attachment that is hard to explain. While it may have been love at first sight, the events of the next 48 hours turned our relationship into something more like devotion on both our parts. This colt was attached to me at the hip, more than any foal I've ever had.

Thankfully by the end of the day, the compaction had worked loose and the colt was none the worse for wear. I was able to take the mare and her foal back home. Through all of this Lilly had been a champ. She'd tolerated all of the fuss around her baby even though she was a maiden mare and she hadn't let it push her away either. She clearly understood her role as mother.

At five days old, I took both mares with their foals to a photo shoot at Feature Farm. Normally I wouldn't have taken a five day old foal to shoot pictures. Newborn foals tend to be timid and they don't see all that well. What it takes to get good pictures isn't usually anything such a young foal can tolerate. But this was not the typical newborn.

Professional photo shoots are usually out of my reach because of the expense involved. Equine photography takes a special talent and the great photographers are very expensive. This was an opportunity to split those charges with a number of others leaving me mostly with my individual film charges. I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to get pictures of these foals.

I remember we clipped up Faye's foal for the pictures. He was so hairy, it was hard to see his beautiful face. My friend, Jean, helped me with him. He was such a good sport but I swear with that clip he looked more like a raccoon that a horse! I think if he could have looked in the mirror, the poor boy would have been embarrassed. We didn't clip the other foal because of his age.

He was good for the pictures but his mother was terrible. She didn't like that camera following her baby around. Somehow she managed to get between the colt and the camera most of the time. At one point I thought the Arabian mare was going to charge the photographer but Dave managed to get her attention saving both the camera and the photographer.

Once done with the first foal we were on to the second. I remember Mary Little asking me about him. When I told her his age, she began shaking her head. Then she went off on me about people trying to take pictures of foals that were too young.

I just let her rant and when she was done, I told her we'd just give it a try, if it worked fine. If it didn't that was fine too. But I really believed that we were going to get some great pictures.

We took the mare and foal over to the outdoor arena. Dave held Lilly and I turned the foal loose. We had several people available to keep the colt boxed in before the camera.

Next thing you know the little brat was chasing Mary, much to her delight. The people who were helping were all laughing and giggling. In about five seconds this colt had won over every person there. He played tag with Mary while Jeff Little clicked away the pictures. The colt struck. He tossed his head and he owned the universe. I don't think there was a person there who didn't realize that this is a once in a lifetime kind of horse! I know I sure did.

To be continued...........

The top picture is Legend at five weeks old. The bottom is Image at five days old.

OM Gosh MiKael, seeing these pictures gives me goosebumps, they are beautiful and it looks like you had a perfect day, no harsh sunlight to deal with, Beautiful, I am going to so miss not having any babies to photograph next year. As far as photographing babies, as you know mine are photographed from the minute they are born and I have some of my best photos taken within the first few days of all of my babies. I dont often use flash inside, try to do it available light but on occasion when the lighting has been really bad and Larry was still bed confined 24 7 I took a few snaps just so he could see what the baby looked like.

Image is a stunner, wow I would love to see more from that shoot and Legacy is just too gorgeous, I love the clipping it gives him so much character especially with that beautiful head!!!

We had another 2 inches snow last night, I am off to feed the grain, running late again, have already done hay and water (brrrr cold out there 30F), then put the brats out in the snow. It is overcast today so I may get some shots today too.